The Big East was sacked last weekend when Pittsburgh and Syracuse applied to the ACC. This week it was UConn and West Virginia (and probably more teams) looking elsewhere. The Big East football conference is down to six teams (although Syracuse and Pitt look like they will be made to honor their Big East contract for a couple more years). TCU would make seven if they stay with the conference. So what does the Big East do know? It looks like the Big 12 is going to try and stick together so they (or the ACC) could try to poach another Big East team or two. The Big East needs to make their move now and attempt to strengthen it’s conference so that they can keep their BCS status going forward. Our Big East guy, Pete Sonski, wrote an article earlier today that got me thinking on who should be added to the Big East so I decided to do some research and see which teams I thought would be the best fit.
Let’s take a look at some teams and what they might offer the Big East. Some of these have been mentioned as possible Big East targets, others make sense regionally and some I was just intrigued about. For the purpose of this article (and since we are a college football blog) we are mainly going to focus on college football and not really on the rest of the sports and how they might fit in the Big East:
THE CANDIDATES
EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
Location: Greenville, North Carolina
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 27,816 (in comparison Syracuse has 20,407 and Pitt has 28,823)
Rivals: NC State, Southern Miss, UNC
2010 Football Attendance: 49,665 per home game
Had 8th highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
Had 99.13% capacity on attendance in 2010
Stadium Capacity: 50,000
Attendance was higher than Arizona State, Colorado, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Indiana, TCU, USF, Purdue, Maryland and Iowa State
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $29 Million (76th out of 118)- in comparison Cincinnati was the lowest revenue Big East team at 67th
HOUSTON COUGARS
Location: Houston, Texas
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 38,752
Rivals: Rice
2010 Football Attendance: 31,728
Had 11th highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
Had 99.15% capacity on attendance in 2010
Stadium Capacity: 32,000
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $30 M (73rd out of 118)
MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD
Location: Huntington, West Virginia
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 9,692
Rivals: East Carolina, Ohio, UCF, West Virginia
2010 Football Attendance: 27,046
Stadium Capacity: 38,019
Had 14th highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $21 M (92nd out of 118)
SMU MUSTANGS
Location: Dallas, Texas
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 7,000
2010 Football Attendance: 23,515
Stadium Capacity: 32,000
Had 30th highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $33 M (69th out of 118)
SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI GOLDEN EAGLES
Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 18,029
Rivals: Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Tulane
2010 Football Attendance: 29,400
Stadium Capacity: 36,000
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $14 M (111th out of 118)
Was the lowest Conference USA team in revene for that time period
TEMPLE OWLS
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Conference Affiliation: MAC
Students: 37,696
Rivals: Buffalo, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, Villanova
2010 Football Attendance: 20,515
Had 22nd highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $29 M (79th out of 118)
UCF KNIGHTS
Location: Orlando, Florida
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 56,337
Rivals: East Carolina, Marshall, Tulsa, USF
2010 Football Attendance: 39,614
Attendance was higher than Boston College, Cincinnati, Northwestern, UConn, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest and Washington State
Stadium Capacity: 45,301
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $28 M (78th out of 118)
VILLANOVA WILDCATS
Location: Villanova, Pennsylvania
Conference Affiliation: CAA (FCS)
Rivals: Delaware, Temple
2010 Football Attendance: 8,573
Stadium Capacity: 12,500
THEY WOULDN’T, WOULD THEY?:
APPALACHIAN STATE MOUNTAINEERS
Location: Boone, North Carolina
Conference Affiliation: Southern (FCS)
Students: 17,222
Rivals: Furman, Georgia Southern, Western Carolina
2010 Football Attendance: 25,715 (largest in FCS)
AIR FORCE FALCONS
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Conference Affiliation: MWC
Students: 4,417
Rivals: Army, Navy, Colorado State
2010 Football Attendance: 40,093
Stadium Capacity: 52,480
Had 15th highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $30 M (74th out of 118)
ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS
Location: West Point, New York
Conference Affiliation: Independent
Students: 4,487
Rivals, Army, Navy, Notre Dame, Rutgers
2010 Football Attendance: 31,667
Stadium Capacity: 40,000
Had 20th highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
GEORGIA STATE PANTHERS
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Conference Affiliation: FCS Independent
Students: 31,533
2010 Football Attendance: 17,094
Stadium Capacity: 71,228
Football team has only been in existence since 2010
MEMPHIS TIGERS
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 23,031
2010 Football Attendance: 23,918
Stadium Capacity: 62,380
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $33 M (68th out of 118)
Was the highest Conference USA team in revenue for that time period
NAVY MIDSHIPMEN
Location: Annapolis, Maryland
Conference Affiliation: Independent
Students: 5,760
Rivals: Air Force, Army, Maryland, Notre Dame, Rutgers
2010 Football Attendance: 32,653
Stadium Capacity: 34,000
RICE OWLS
Location: Houston, Tennessee
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 5,760
2010 Football Attendance: 25,571
Stadium Capacity: 70,000
Had 3rd highest attendance increase in FBS from 2009 to 2010
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $26 M (81st out of 118)
TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANES
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Conference Affiliation: Conference USA
Students: 4,165
2010 Football Attendance: 20,379
Stadium Capacity: 30,000
2007/2008 Football Revenue: $25 M (83rd out of 118)
UMASS MINUTEMEN
Location: Amherst, Massachusetts
Conference Affiliation: CAA (FCS)- joining MAC (FBS) in 2013
Students: 68,315 (over 5 campuses); Amherst has 27,269
Rivals: New Hampshire, Rhode Island
2010 Football Attendance: 13,005
Stadium Capacity: 17,000
THE OPTIONS:
THE SERVICE ADADEMIES
One hot rumor is the Big East adding the two unaffiliated service academies, Army and Navy, as football members only. If this was done it would bring the conference to nine teams and somewhat stabilize it. This might be doable if one to three other teams were plucked to go with them. Overall though, I’m not a huge fan of bringing the service academies to the Big East. I like them as independents and it further complicates the separation of sports in the Big East and just creates more confusion.
GO BIG WITH TEXAS TEAMS
I haven’t really heard this theory but since they already have TCU why not add three more Texas teams like Houston, SMU and Rice? Houston is by far the most desired of these three but creating a hub in Texas would help with many things including travel costs for TCU having to go half-way across the country for various sports. I like the idea of a hub but I don’t think that SMU and Rice bring enough to the table to bring them into an AQ conference.
GO NORTHEAST HEAVY
Another option is to try and stay with the Big East’s Northeast roots and gobble up the NE teams (or somewhat northest) like Temple, Villanova and Marshall to bring the conference to 10 teams.
EXPAND SOUTH ALONG THE COAST
USF looks awful lonely down south and adding UCF and East Carolina are probably the best two options for the Big East if they are looking for schools that will bring attedance, fans and revenue to the mix (I know it’s not a lot but it’s more than the other candidates in a lot of cases). Add them and Memphis and you add some southern flavor and you might have your best 10.
MY PLAN:
After looking over the data I’ve compiled and assuming that TCU keeps their commitment to the Big East here is who I would add:
Team #8: East Carolina- Their attendance is already higher than Cincinnati, TCU and UConn and they will only get more popular and better recognition with the move to the Big East (much like USF and others have before them). I think they would be a good football fit for the Big East.
Team #9: UCF- They are a large University with solid football attendance and they would provide a natural rival for USF. They have had some controversy lately but they look like a school on the rise and could come in and compete with many in the Big East right now in football.
Team #10: Houston- They are one of the highest revenue generating teams based on the report I used, they are located in a major city (much like UCF), they have solid attendance which improved last year in a down year and they would provide a natural rival for TCU.
Team #11: Memphis- This is where you think I fell off my rocker but I’m thinking revenue opportunities as well as a basketball/football natural rivalry with Louisville. I know the football team sucks but eventually it will be better and maybe that booster that was offerring cash to get them into a conference is still out there. Memphis makes a lot of sense to me if you don’t just look at actual W-L records on the football field.
Team #12: Temple or Appalachian State- I would take a long, long look at App State if I was the Big East. I know it sounds crazy but they had the highest attendance in all of the FCS last year. They have recently renovated their stadium to make it bigger but they would need to again if they made the jump to the Big East or build a new one. Back in August a committe at App State said the football team should make the jump to FBS. I’m not sure where they are at now but they would be an interesting addition once Pitt and Syracuse have gone to the ACC. As one of the strongest teams in the conference App State would make no sense but if you tell me that they are the 12th best team in the conference and have a chance to grow into something in the future then it makes sense.
If the Big East doesn’t want to take the leap with Appalachian State then they should default to Temple as the #12 team. They make sense from a basketball/football standpoint and from a geographic standpoint.
So here’s my Big East (once Pitt and Syracuse go bye bye). I’m going with App State over Temple just because Temple has already had their shot:
NORTH
Cincinnati
Memphis
Louisville
Rutgers
UConn
West Virginia
SOUTH
Appalachain State
East Carolina
Houston
TCU
UCF
USF
OR
EAST
Appalachian State
Cincinnati
East Carolina
Rutgers
UConn
West Virginia
WEST
Houston
Louisville
Memphis
TCU
UCF
USF
Thoughts?
Here are a couple of links that I used for the data in this article (in addition to Wikipedia):
Harvard Sports Attendance Analysis
Orlando Sentinel: Revenue Figures
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